People

Abby Davis

Undergraduate Researcher

This December of 2019, I will graduate with a B.S. in Entomology and minor in fungal biology with distinction in research.

I joined the Danforth lab in the spring of 2019, where I helped Dr. Bryan Danforth, Maria van Dyke and Dr. Jessica Gillung sample varying developmental stages of Osmia bee larvae reared on experimentally manipulated pollen provisions. Currently, I am identifying native bees to be included in the 2019 New York State Native Bee Survey.

My research interests are centered around pollinator disease transmission dynamics. As shared floral resources are heavily implicated in bee pathogen transmission, it is likely that all flower-visiting insects are exposed to “bee pathogens”. In the McArt lab, I am working with Ph.D. candidate Kaitlin Deutsch on the effects different “bee pathogens” have on flower fly (Diptera: Syrphidae) pollinators. This collaboration spurred on my senior thesis, where I am investigating the potential for flower flies to be non-host vectors of Crithidia bombi, a common fecal-orally transmitted parasite of bumble bees.